Christmas Memories
by amykaye
Summary: The Cliffhangers stay at Horizon for a little holiday therapy. They decorate the tree, discuss their best and worst Christmas memories, then have an unexpectedly good Christmas. Please review!
1. Twas the Night Before Christmas

  
"Is that everybody?" Sophie asked, as Ezra walked into the lodge. Peter did a quick head count and nodded.  
"So, what exactly are we doing?" Scott asked.  
"Yeah, why couldn't it wait until after Christmas?" Juliette asked.  
"Why do you _want_ to go home for Christmas? I certainly don't," Shelby said, flopping down on the couch.  
"I don't know, I miss my mom and my house and my family..." Juliette trailed off.  
"And my dog, and my horse, and my maids, and my money," Shelby said in a high voice, mimicking her. Daisy and Scott tried to supress a smile.  
Juliette turned a little pink. "Just because you don't want to go home doesn't mean everyone doesn't," Juliette retorted, sitting on the opposite couch, folding her arms across her chest.  
Peter could see a verbal war forming, and wanted this evening to go well. "Okay you guys, unroll your sleeping bags in a circle, girls, go to the upstairs bathroom to change, boys down the hall. You have 15 minutes."  
"Fifteen minutes? Thats it?" Juliette muttered under her breath. She wanted to cry. It was Christmas Eve, and Peter wanted all of them to stay at Horizon for Christmas. He said they would improve faster if they stayed at school and not go home. But she missed her mom, even though she was the real reason Juliette was at Horizon. They washed up and met back in the lodge 15 minutes later.  
"Okay, so here's what we're doing. You guys are going to decorate the Christmas tree. Then, you're going to sit on your bags and tell each other your favorite and worse Christmas memory."  
Most of the group groaned. But they went to the closet and brought out the boxes of decorations. They started to decorate the tree.  
"We should put the lights on first, Jules, not last," Auggie said.  
"Yeah, that way we won't knock any ornaments off when we put the lights on."  
"Whatever," Juliette said, obviously in a bad mood.  
  
"Scott, put the angel on the top of the tree," Juliette said a little later.  
"No, put up the star," Shelby said.  
"But the angel has more meaning."  
"The star is just as important. Its what the wise men followed to Bethlehem."  
"But the angel came to Mary first and also to the shepards, and-" Juliette broke off when Daisy interrupted.  
"Oh for heaven's sake. Lets not fight over it! Put the star on top of the angel." Daisy said.  
"That won't work." Juliette and Shelby both said flatly. "Peter!"  
"This is your tree to decorate. You figure it out."  
"Fine, the angel. Princess always gets her way, why disappoint her on Christmas," Shelby said. Tears stung Juliette's eyes but she wouldn't give Shelby the satisfaction of seeing her cry.  
"You know, sometimes I'm not upset that we don't have TV here. Its more fun watching those two fight," Ezra said to Scott and Auggie.  
"Yeah EZ, sometimes," Auggie said.  
  
An hour later, the tree was decorated and the Cliffhangers were sitting on their sleeping bags, wrapped up in blankets in front of the fire.  
"Okay, you guys, tell me what that was for?" Peter asked.  
"Teamwork. Its what everything around here is," Daisy said.  
"Yeah. And working through things," Scott said.  
"Okay, I want to hear about your favorite and worse Christmases now. Ezra, I want you to go first." Peter handed him a stuffed bear with a santa hat.  
"Okay. My favorite Christmas was when I was seven, and my parents didn't fight that year. We went to my grandmother's house and had a huge Christmas dinner, and my parents got me a yellow lab puppy. My worst Christmas was last year, because my puppy died, and my parents had decided to separate." Ezra passed the bear to Scott.  
"My worst Christmas was when my dad married Elaine. My favorite was when I was 11 and we had a foster kid at our house. Little girl named Katie - 7 years old. We tried to adopt her, but it didn't work out. But that Christmas was so happy. It had snowed a few days before and me and Katie got innertubes and slid down the hill in my backyard together," Scott finished, not looking at anyone. He hadn't told anybody about Katie. He would have loved to have a little sister like her. He passed the bear to Auggie.  
"My favorite Christmas was when I was 12 and my whole family went snow skiing in Colorado. The place we went to wasn't well known and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. My worst Christmas - I really haven't had one. My mom told me when I was two I tripped and fell and had a bloody nose, but I don't remember that," Auggie said, and everyone laughed. He passed the bear to Juliette.  
"My favorite Christmas was when I was 5, before my dad left us. We went outside and made a snowfamily and snow angels, and we went riding that evening. It even snowed. He gave me this bear," she held it up. "My worst Christmas - is probably this one because its the first I've been away from my family and I miss them." She tossed the bear to Daisy.  
"Well, quite honestly I don't have a favorite Christmas because my parents would always go to party after party and get drunk. I'd have to stay home alone in the house and open gifts by myself, granted I had any. Oh, wait, one Christmas my parents got me a new bike I wanted, and they only went to one party and were only a little tipsy," Daisy shrugged. "Christmas in my family was never a big thing." She gave the bear to Shelby.  
"Well, my favorite Christmas was when I was 10. My dad got tickets for me, him, and Jess to see Swan Lake and Cats. It was amazing. Swan Lake was a few days after Christmas, and Christmas decorations were still up. Cats was a little later, but I remember it all so clearly. My worst Christmas was when my mom married Walt. You know why so I won't go into detail." She handed the bear to Kat.  
"The best Christmas was when my parents gave us a trip to New York City. We saw 4 plays and they were amazing. My worst Christmas was the one after Shannon died. The house seemed so empty and my parents never said it wasn't my fault, so things were a little touchy." She tossed the bear to Peter.  
"Okay, time for bed you guys. Have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."  
"You mean you're not going to tell us about your Christmases?" Shelby asked.  
"Thats for another day. Night you guys, sleep tight." Peter said. Sophie turned off the lights and they both settled down on the couches.  
  
  


If I have time today, I'll write the day of Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it, please review. Merry Christmas, be safe! 


	2. Merry Christmas

  
The next morning the Cliffhangers awoke to smells of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. They groggily sat up, momentarilly forgetting where they were.  
"Hey, you guys, its Christmas!" Juliette exclaimed.  
"Merry Christmas everybody," Peter said as he came into the room. "How about some breakfast?"  
They got up and sat around a table in the middle of the empty cafeteria.  
"Wow, this food is great. Who made it?" Scott said.  
"We both did," Sophie said.  
"Well, maybe you should cook more often and we can actually be truthful when our parents ask us if the food is good."  
"Or when they ask us if we're getting proper nourishment," Auggie added.  
"Come on, the food isn't that bad," Peter said.  
"Then you haven't had it much, have you?" Daisy said.  
Peter didn't answer. "So, did you guys look under the tree when you got up?" Peter asked after they were don't eating.  
"You're kidding, you got us presents?" Shelby asked.  
"Well, yeah. We did. Go on, look while we clean up. No opening till we get there, though."  
The group went back in the room and sure enough, there were presents under the tree. They got their gifts, two each, and sat down on their sleeping bags, waiting for Peter and Sophie. Finally they came in.  
"All right, open up."  
The Cliffhangers opened their gifts.  
Auggie got a sketch pad and a pack of cool paints and paintbrushes. Daisy got a new set of Tarot cards and a framed copy of Amazing Grace. Ezra got a calendar of labs and picture of him and his parents when he was little.  
"Your parents gave that to us when they were here on parents weekend," Peter explained.  
Juliette got a diary and a horse calendar. Kat got a diary too, as well as a framed picture of her whole family. She guessed her parents gave it to Peter during parents weekend as well. Scott got a piano book and a football. Shelby got one of Degas' dancers poster and a picture cube with pictures of her, Scott, and the group.  
"Wow, Peter, Sophie, this is great," Auggie said. The others nodded in agreement.  
"Yeah, you didn't have to do this," Ezra said, looking through his calendar.  
"Well, whats Christmas without it?"  
"But we weren't all good this year," Juliette said.  
"He's not Santa, Prin - Juliette," Shelby said, trying to be nice to everyone.  
"So what are we going to do the rest of the day?" Scott asked.  
"Well, we're going to stay in the lodge all day, but you can do whatever you want. We'll watch a Christmas movie tonight if you want."  
"You mean you have a TV here?" Kat asked. "How could I miss that?"  
"Well, we brought it over from my place. We don't like keeping a TV here because people like different shows, and it takes focus away from the purpose of this school, which is really the main reason. Some shows promote violence or drugs, and we don't want you to watch it. Besides, TV isn't the most important thing in the world. Which brings me to something I want you to think about. Where do you think you would be right now if some of the shows you watched flopped, or never ran, or you never owned a TV. I don't want an answer, just for you to think about it. Now you are free to do whatever you want."  
  
Later that evening, Peter gathered them back in the front room, where a TV was hooked up. Sophie brought out hot chocolate ("Be glad you're getting this," she said) and they all gathered around the TV and fire and watched Miracle on 34th Street.  
"Aw, come on Peter. This is a girly kiddie movie," Auggie complained.  
"Well I don't see anything wrong with it. Its happy and the worst thing it promotes is believing in Santa," Sophie said, clear there wasn't to be anymore discussion.  
  
"See Auggie, that movie wasn't so bad!" Juliette said when it was over.  
"Ah, nah," Auggie said, turning a little pink.  
"Come on, man, you know you were rooting for Santa," Scott said.  
"Well, I saw you diggin' the little girl!"  
"The girl? I was 'diggin' the mom!" Scott said, and dodged Auggie's punch. Juliette smiled. This wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. It was nice to have everyone get along, and Shelby was actually being nice to her.  
"Hey you guys! Its snowing!" Kat exclaimed.  
They all ran to the windows and watched the snow falling.  
"Well, what are we waiting for? Its _snowing_!" Ezra said. They looked at Peter and he nodded. They ran out the door, still in their pjs, to their dorms and threw on some warm clothes. They ran back, pulling on their gloves and hats and scarves along the way. They ran back inside, waiting for instructions from Peter.  
"You know the boundaries, and don't hurt each other. Go out and have fun, we'll be watching you from in here."  
They ran outside. The snow was starting to get thick already, adding to what was already there. Scott wadded some snow together and threw it at his closest target, which was Ezra. Ezra threw some back at him, and Scott threw some at Shelby, and then a full-fledged snow ball fight was on. Shelby snuck up on Scott and hit him on the head with a snowball, while jumping on his back. Unprepared Scott fell to the ground and Shelby fell on top of him. She rolled off his back and Scott got her on the head with a snowball. Then he kissed her gently. They laid on their backs and made snow angels. Juliette and Auggie came over and helped them up so they wouldn't get messed up. Shelby drew a halo above hers. Kat, Ezra, and Daisy joined them and they decided to make a snow man. But they didn't get far on that because after they made the base, they started another snowball fight. Peter and Sophie watched from the window, holding each other close.  
"This wasn't a bad idea at all, Peter. Maybe we should do this with all the kids next year. They kind of learn to bond with each other," Sophie said.  
"I know. Hopefully this will change them and they'll treat each other better from now on."  
  
A little later, they all came back inside, cold, wet, and tired. They changed into other, dryer clothes, and huddled next to each other in front of the fire. Sophie brought them more hot chocolate and she and Peter hung up their wet clothes. After they were dry, they hugged Peter and Sophie, thanking them for a pretty good Christmas, and went to bed. They chose to keep their sleeping bags in a circle. They fell asleep, content and happy with how the day turned out.  
  


Hope you liked it, please review. Merry Christmas!


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